The Disappearance of the Eladrin
This is a Lore Article & a Lore-Book. This is In-Character knowledge and represented by a in-game tome. The Disappearance of the Eladrin 49,984 ae Scholars debate when exactly the ancestors of the elves left the Material Plane, but most agree that it was sometime in the beginning of the first era, when the second Moon, Mondis, transgressed to the material plane, as written by the Eladrin Scholar, Virtuoso Eytrellius. Virtuoso’s research, On the Outer Planes, is one of the single intact tomes that survived past the second fall of the Elven Empire in the beginning of the Second Era, circa 10,000 ae & the Human Draco Wars of the Third Era. His work is heavily referenced as one of our few sources on the Eladrin. Though a few scholars question the text’s grasp on reality and cite it as a work of fiction, the High Elven Empire of Aendrithas, keepers of the original work, claim otherwise. Besides the few lesser scholars that choose to ignore the facts – On the Outer Planes, is accepted almost universally as a professional work and study in the field of the Outer Realms. The Eladrin, or forefathers of the current day elves, were most alike to the High Elves of today, whom pride themselves in being their closest living relatives. Indeed, Eladrin culture was very similar to that of High Elven culture today. Eladrin were known for their great heights and light to golden skin. Eladrin eye colour spanned a large spectrum of blues, purples, pinks and gold. Interestingly several texts cite Eladrin as having antler like horns, protruding from their foreheads to atop of their heads. (This is mentioned nowhere in Virtuoso’s works, though fairly, he was a scholar of the planes and not of anatomy.) Eladrin have been referenced as having white to golden hair, and their ears were pointed like their current day relatives but often adorned in jewelry and rings. Eladrin often had lines and runic art tattooed on their faces and bodies, prizes worn for their deeds and accomplishments. These runic lines had magical properties and as such were only awarded to those deserving of them for grand accomplishments. As I stated, Eladrin culture was similar to our High Elves of today. Marble was used as a building material and still is by current High Elves. The White City, and capital of the High Elven Trimagistrate, stands as a testament of the Eladrin’s engineering capabilities. The city, though built upon through five eras, is the most intact Eladrin ruin found to date. The spiraling and rising towers over the ocean stood through a handful of sieges against the city, never falling. Eladrin ruins dot the continent of Forseti, running from the Inner Sea across the plains and mountains to the Scarlet Coast. Some ruins have even been found on the coastline of the Great Eastern Waste, only revealed after strong enough sandstorms unburied the spiraling marble towers. Towards the end of Virtuoso’s On the Outer Planes, the scholar admits his regret and sorrow in the coming of what he references as the “The Reign of Hallowed Moonfire,” something he describes as his people “deserving,” and mourns their denouncement by the gods as a byproduct of false leadership and bloodthirsty hearts. Scholars still debate what this “Hallowed Moonfire” is, some believe it was some sort of weapon of mass destruction. Others claim it was literally the wrath of the gods brought down on the Eladrin in a physical form. Whatever it was, “The Reign of Hallowed Moonfire” destroyed what was once called the “Abla Imperium,” the Eladrin Empire that spanned two continents and is possibly what created the Great Eastern Wastes – seeing as there are no references to the vast desert prior 10,455ae. We find Eladrin ruins to date not crumbling, but standing against cliffsides and mountains in melted states of ruin, the result of what seems like dragonfire – though no known interactions between the Eladrin and Dragons ever resulted in hostilities. In Virtuoso’s final excerpt, he references Mondis and Lune, the brother moons, as being sent by Pholtus to save those loyal to him. It is known through the Dark Elves ancestral ties to the High Elves and theirs to the Eladrin that the two moons were worshipped as deities by the Eladrin, much as they were before the banishment of the Dark Elves to the Depths during the end of the first era. Virtuoso claims he will not need his text and says “I will hide my most prized honor,” “For thine sons of the gods and dragons have more need of it than I,” “Mondis has come to return his chosen home.” Many scholars claim Virtuoso in his old age had been losing his grasp on reality at this point of his research, though I suggest the capable researcher was more than in a proper state of mind, reading him literally I believe Virtuoso Eytrellius ascended to the Outer Realms with help of the Lunar god, Mondis.